Employer Digital Skills Profile Series – Week 6 – Aled Ellis & Co. Estate Agency

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Our sixth Employer Profile is with the estate agency Aled Ellis & Co. based in Aberystwyth. In the profile below, Aled Ellis & Co. state the importance of social media and marketing in their business as well as digital identity. View some resources below to develop these skills.

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Company: Aled Ellis & Co.

Company Size: 4 members in the core team

Founded: 1998

Where is the company based: Aberystwyth-based but covers from Tywyn down to New Quay across mid-Wales

Examples of typical graduate roles:

  • Sales negotiator
  • Admin assistant

Essential Digital Skills We Value:
Digital Identity – Very important to present a welcoming, helpful identity to clients and this extends to how prospective employees present themselves through their communication.
Digital Communication – Contact with vendors, buyers and sellers via email, WhatsApp and voice notes.
Digital Creation – Splice, Canva and other video editing software.

Did Covid change the company and the way it is run?:
“Before Covid we hardly used our WhatsApp group but now we use it all the time and it allowed us to work remotely which is something we still do. Another thing is being able to communicate with sellers abroad and that is only possible with video calls or messages.”

What are the key personal skills in Estate Agency?:
“For anyone who wants to go into any sales role then customer service is so important. Making sure that your client is 100% satisfied is the key. Communication skills are the most important part of our jobs. Some clients prefer to communicate via certain platforms, or only in Welsh, so being across all various different communication platforms and then being willing to communicate with clients in their preferred manner is great.”

Are there any digital skills weaknesses in your team?:
“Definitely social media. There was no social media presence when the business first started but now we do virtual tours, we post all our properties on Facebook and Instagram ad we have a YouTube channel. It is so key to the estate agency industry and the graduate generation are more up to date with using it, so to be able to have that ability to use social media, along with maybe marketing skills too, will go a long way.”

Do you think people overlook digital skills in estate agencies?:
“Without a doubt. As well as social media just being computer literate is so important. We use a system called Vebra to upload all of our properties and contacts so to be able to use and navigate these digital tools is vital. Being able to pick up a new system quickly will get you really far in our business!”

Aled Ellis Website

Produced by the Student Digital Champions

DigiTip 44: Make quick decisions in MS Teams with the polling feature 📊 

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There may be times when you’re in an MS Teams meeting, and you need to make a quick decision. It could be deciding when to hold your next group meeting or voting on which title to choose for a project report.  

If you need to create a poll once you’ve started your meeting, Teams offers a built-in polling feature. Watch the video below to learn how to set up your first poll. 

Please note: We suggest that you use Vevox, AU’s polling tool, if you’re looking to set up a poll in advance of your online meeting or session. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

Your favourite blogposts in the last year! 🥇

WordPress User [shs63] Artificial Intelligence, Code First Girls, Digital Wellbeing Series, LinkedIn Learning, Student Digital Champions, Students Leave a comment

In the last year, the Digital Skills Team including the Student Digital Champions have published many blogposts covering a lot of digital topics and issues. Here are the top 5 blogposts from 2023/24! 

  1. My experience with Code First Girls: Read about one of our experiences in taking a course with Code First Girls and why you should consider joining a course too! 
  2. Begin a new chapter- Apps to help your reading habits: Learn more about the types of apps available to help encourage your reading habits as well as maintain your reading goals.  
  3. Take control of your phone with ScreenZen: Discover ScreenZen and how it can benefit you with a post by our Student Digital Champion after their digital detox.  
  4. Introducing the new AI coaching chatbot in LinkedIn Learning: In case you missed it – a new feature introduced on LinkedIn Learning where an AI coaching chatbot can now provide recommendations and help improve your LinkedIn Learning experience.  
  5. Digital Decluttering: A Student Guide To Organising your Digital Spaces: Clean up your digital spaces with some tips and tricks from our Student Digital Champion. 

To keep up to date with the Digital Skills Blog make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any posts!  

Employer Digital Skills Profile Series – Week 5 – The BBC

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Our fifth Employer Profile is with the BBC. As stated in the profile below, the BBC host hackathon events that are usually coding based and also believe importance should be placed on digital wellbeing. As well, the BBC recommend using LinkedIn Learning to develop digital skills especially for future employability. View some resources below to help you in these areas:

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Company: British Broadcasting Cooperation (BBC)

Company Size: 21,000

Founded: 1922

Where is the company based: UK wide

Examples of typical graduate roles:

  • Apprenticeships
  • Software Engineer
  • User Experience Design
  • Various roles across:
    • Business
    • Project Management
    • Journalism
    • Production

Essential Digital Skills We Value:
Digital Problem Solving and Collaboration –
“Hackathon style events where people are put into teams and set a sort of challenge, usually coding based, in a set amount of time and then present your solution and there is usually a winning team so it is a very collaborative event”.
Digital Wellbeing –
“We encourage people to try and come into work where possible and HR run sessions about mental health and wellbeing and in particular work-life balance. Within the digital teams they are doing more of things called ‘10% times’ where every other Friday people are recommended to step away from work stuff and spend a day or half a day learning a new skill which could be digital skills or courses or anything else!”

What digital skills does the BBC look for in their employees and how can students show those skills?:
“Depends on the role really, the key is to be knowledgeable about current trends, for example being aware and having a knowledge of current software and [coding] languages. Our key question is “tell us why you are best for the role”, and that would be the best opportunity to display your knowledge and skill base. So mention any projects you have been involved in, particularly dissertation projects as they are often at the forefront of digital skills. But as important as digital skills are we can also teach those when someone is in the role so other personal skills and behaviours like collaboration are really important.”

What do you suggest to students to develop or improve on those skills?:
“Read the job description and if there is something you have not experienced before use something like LinkedIn Learning, Pluralsight or just YouTube even and try to then match the experience they are looking for by working on those skills yourself. Acknowledging something you have not got experience in is not a bad thing as long as you can say I am willing to learn it.”

What are you not seeing enough of in terms of these digital skills?:
“What I personally notice is the actual quality of the application as opposed to the specific skills that are missing. It feels that we have people coming out of university who have done some fantastic things, but they have got no experience or had no help in writing an application”.

BBC Careers Website

Produced by the Student Digital Champions

DigiTip 43: Change your work with Replace in Word 🔃

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There may be times where you need to replace a word you have used consistently throughout your work – this could be a name or a misspelled word. DigiTip 43 can show you how to quickly find and replace words. Either read the short step-by-step instructions or watch the video to learn how! 

  • In the top ribbon, select the ‘replace’ option. 
  • Enter the word you would like to replace in the ‘Find what’ section. 
  • Enter the word you would like to use instead in ‘replace with’. 
  • Choose the relevant option to you – replace and find next to change individual versions or replace all.  

Please note this will only work if the ‘find what’ word is spelt correctly.  

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!  

Employer Digital Skills Profile Series – Week 4 – Cogent Breeding UK Genetic Services

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Our fourth Employer Profile is with Cogent Breeding UK genetic services. Cogent UK place importance on knowing excel, being “data-savvy” and knowing basic digital proficiency and problem solving; learn more about developing these skills from the below resources.

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Company: Cogent Breeding UK

Company Size: 250 employees

Founded: 1995

Where is the company based: Based in Chester but operate UK-wide and internationally

Examples of typical graduate roles:

  • Lab Technician
  • Sales and Genetics Consultants
  • Admin Assistants

Essential Digital Skills We Value:
Digital Proficiency and Problem Solving – Proficiency with computer software, basic troubleshooting skills for the computers that run our sorting machines and an understanding of computer mechanics.
Digital Literacy – Proficiency in Excel for data management and analysis of customer and sample data.
Digital Communication – Ability to effectively communicate via email and other digital platforms.

Common Areas for Improvement:
“Many graduates, especially those from practical backgrounds such as in agriculture or animal science, may lack experience with data management tools like Excel. Graduates that work in the labs seem to have more data experience, so this may be an area that is overlooked in the more practical degrees.”

Where we recruit from:
“We have recruited graduates from a very diverse range of degrees such as chemistry, forensic science, microbiology and even wildlife conservation. We are open to any graduates as long as you have the right attitude, an interest in what you do, a willingness to learn and a keen attention to detail. “

What we look for in our employees:
“Our team is driven by a collective passion for agriculture and a deep understanding of the industry, and we look for the same in our new recruits. We’re seeking enthusiastic individuals who align with our core values, have integrity and a positive demeanour. If you’re outgoing, data-savvy, and eager to learn, we want you on our team.”

Cogent UK Website

Produced by the Student Digital Champions

DigiTip 42: Refine your search results with filters in MS Teams 🔎

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Teams has a useful search function, but it can sometimes produce too many results. To save you unnecessary time searching, you can utilise filters.

These filters allow you to search using specific criteria such as date, sender, and file type, helping you to quickly pinpoint the information you need!

Take a look at the screenshot below to learn how to use these filters ⬇

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!

Employer Digital Skills Profile Series – Week 3 – National Library of Wales

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Our third Employer Profile is with the National Library of Wales based in Aberystwyth. The National Library of Wales value skills relating to digital proficiency, digital learning and digital communication; learn more about developing these skills from our curated LinkedIn Learning collections below.

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Company: National Library of Wales

Company Size: 230

Founded: 1907 and in its current location since 1916

Where is the company based: Aberystwyth, Wales

Examples of typical graduate roles:

  • Admin and Finance Assistants
  • Library and Archive Assistants
  • Shop Assistants
  • Portering Team
  • Hospitality Assistants

Essential Digital Skills We Value:
Digital Proficiency – Online resources available through library website, e.g. collections catalogue, manuscripts.
Digital Learning – Training on the MS office package, transcription of collections to digital format, conservation work, quality assurance.
Digital Communication – Email, Teams, Zoom and social media.

How integral is technology to your daily work?:
“Technology is used throughout the library, we have live videos showing clips from our archives to online catalogues”

What kind of person would be a good fit for the National Library of Wales?:
“Provided you are not scared of using technology there are plenty of opportunities for you at the Library. Full training will be given as much of our work is very unique in nature.”

Does not speaking Welsh stop graduates from applying to work with you?:
“Each Job Description will specify the level of Welsh required to undertake a role. Our front of house posts require the ability to communicate through the medium of Welsh, but we are more relaxed with positions which don’t face the public.”

Has Covid changed the way that you work?:
“Prior to Covid, we were all working on site and travelling to meetings. The Library now offers hybrid working and most of our meetings are held on-site in Aberystwyth or via Teams.”

NLW Website

Produced by the Student Digital Champions

DigiTip 41: Better Notes with Microsoft OneNote 📒

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Have you found that you want all your notes including documents or PDFs all in one place? Well with OneNote, this is possible! As well as being a great space to store your personal notes, did you know that you can insert file printouts including PDFs and Word pages to go alongside your notes? Watch the video below to learn how to insert file printouts! 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!  

Employer Digital Skills Profile Series – Week 2 – Clicky Media

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Our second Employer Profile is with Clicky Media based across the UK. One of the essential digital skills that Clicky Media values is proficiency with LinkedIn. View some resources below to learn how to better engage with LinkedIn and how to create an appealing profile:

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Company: Clicky Media Digital Marketing Agency

Company Size: 50

Founded: 2007

Where is the company based: Across the UK

Examples of typical graduate roles:

Assistant roles in a specifical service area of digital marketing:

  • Search engine optimisation
  • Paid ads
  • Paid social
  • Digital PR

Essential Digital Skills We Value:
Digital Learning – Proactive engagement in learning new software. For example, taking Google exams for entry level digital skills and exams in Google analytics or paid search software.
Digital Identity – Proficiency with LinkedIn and using it to engage with and communicate with the wider industry.
Digital Creation – Experience in setting up a website.

What does a day in the life look like for one of your assistant roles?:
“It would depend on the department but the general structure of one of our assistant roles is you would have work briefed to you from thee wider team and then support the senior team with the work for clients. So it could be anything from pulling research from different platforms, to helping with a presentation for client strategy.”

What are the personal attributes do you look for in a new employee?:
“A bit of drive and tenacity, someone wo wants to come into the business and drive change and then will deliver on those goals. Having commercial awareness is great but really someone who knows what they want and have the drive to achieve it is what we look for.”

How important is social media use in marketing?:
“LinkedIn is such a big thing in our sector so being able to use it, that is really useful. We have a paid social media team so although we don’t do anything organically, having knowledge of certain platforms like Meta or TikTok and how people use those can e really useful from a client delivery perspective”

Are there any common digital skills weaknesses in graduates?:
“Literacy with excel and getting up to speed with specific platforms mostly. Graduates tend t either note be able to pick up new systems at speed or there are those that are really literate with the platforms, but they want to do everything too fast, and they end up cutting corners, so it is about finding a balance between the two really”

Clicky Media Website

Produced by the Student Digital Champions